heater hoses

I've had mine plugged for several years now, because I live in Florida. One of my next projects is to hook them up again, every once in a while you need the defroster. I am looking into a company that has electric shutoff valves so that you don't have to lay down under the car to turn it on and off.

There is no harm in plugging the heater water outlets. In fact the heater robs horsepower(although this may be immeasurable); ever see "two lane Blacktop"? Florida is the place to not need a heater. The Valves are just a covenience for when you do need to turn the heater back on. What Lay down under the car?? The valves are suppose to be installed near the right valve cover under the rear window. I just reach in the back deck opening and turn them on and off. And this info is from the person who designs, assembles, and sells these Bronze Ball valves on Ebay. Get them NOW before your journey through the Desert to Las Vegas. Electric Valves are cute, do you know what the orifice size is? All the best, Marlin.

[This message has been edited by MARLIN JACK (edited 03-16-2004).]

Cute, huh? Vintage Air sells the electric valves with a 5/8 inlet and outlet. They are about $85 each I think.

5/8 Inch is certainly big enough for the flow when you need it. I would probably use them myself if I wanted another electrical device. Good-Luck with it, Marlin.

Thanks for the replies! This link shows the electronic heater valve including source link

oops sorry, gettin senile in my old age, here's the link:
http://home.earthlink.net/~rlbpantera/HeaterValve.html

It looks like a nice installation except the valve only affects one water tube. You don't think hot water can exchange heat in reverse through the return line, especially once the engine has been shut off? Your A/C will be blowing cold air through a hot heater core. Mounting the valve in the engine compartment would have kept the heat completely out of the cockpit, but you would have had to mount one on each of the two heater hoses. You have a trick way of controlling the water flow, but you have not eliminated the heat for the summer. I hope for your sake the epoxy holds. Yes! They use it to repair engine blocks, sometimes, but when you go to epoxy Plastic, things come apart. I would have installed it differently. You'll Learn. Just my 2 cents, but I have to tell it like it is. "Believe me now, or Believe me later!". Marlin.

Simply plugging the heater hoses, besides the posts on this up to now, also can trap antiifreeze in your heater core. Over a period of years, its been found that the anti-corrosion additives in the antifreeze will be used up, and you'll get some corrosion of the copper heater core. This results in a vile looking greenish-black ooze that comes out of your heater control valve, if its ever reactivated. I would suggest leaving the heater hoses completely off the heater core and doing any "plugging" at the engine. Incidently, with the system rigged as you now have, you'll have to be careful about using the defroster as its function is tied into the stock heater contol valve, too.

To clear up some confusion, the heater valve photos shown are from the web pages of Richard Barkley and his Pantera "ZONKEY".
As in "Screamin' Yellow Zonkers' and if you don't remember what they were, you must be a youngin'.

Scroll to the bottom of the heater page and click on the "HOME" link to see the whole story of Richard's wonderful restoration on this one owner car.

And yes Marlin, I have some doubts about the epoxy. But knowing Richard, JB Weld and plastic, I kind of think the plastic will rot out before the epoxy ;-)

Larry

[This message has been edited by LF - Teach Peace (edited 03-21-2004).]

I was NOT suggesting that the epoxy would ROT. I was questioning the ADHESION of the Epoxy to the ABS Plastic. It will work, or it won't. I can see it coming undone while speeding down a Desert highway at 145 mph, in the middle of the day, 105 degrees outside and the water temp is 230. And you won't have any way to shut the water off. That's all I have to say on this subject. I DO wish you good-Luck with it!! Regards, Marlin.